Terrorist Group of Pakistan
Lashkar-e-Omar (The Army of Omar)

Formation

Lashkar-e-Omar (LeO) is
a new terrorist group reportedly founded in January 2002 and is a conglomerate
of Harkat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami (HuJI),
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
cadres. It was formed after the arrests of several front-ranking Islamist
leaders in Pakistan following President Pervez Musharraf’s address to
the nation on January 12, 2002, in which he committed himself to dismantling
the structures and networks of terrorism based in his country. The etymology
of Lashkar-e-Omar is yet not clear. According to some reports, it is
named after Mullah Mohammed Omar,
chief of the Taliban militia.
Other reports have indicated that the name is allegedly a direct homage
to Syed Ahmed Omar Sheikh, a front-ranking JeM terrorist who was, on
July 15, 2002, sentenced to life by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Hyderabad,
Sindh, for his role in the abduction-cum-murder of US journalist Daniel
Pearl.

The LeO first came into
prominence in November 2001 when it reportedly claimed responsibility
for an attack on a church in Bahawalpur in Punjab. A police personnel
and 17 Christians, including five children, were killed and nine others
injured when six unidentified gunmen opened indiscriminate fire at a
church in Model Town, Bahawalpur, on October 28, 2001.

Ideology

Their version of Islam
is akin to that of the Taliban militia of Afghanistan. The LeO’s ideological
underpinning is a mixture of Islamist fundamentalism and totalitarian
thinking.

Leadership and Structure

The LeO, according to media
reports, was formed as a loose coalition of terrorists. While the group
provides new cover for terrorist actions of LeJ, JeM and HuJI, it also
includes several like-minded ‘freelancers’. Omar Sheikh, currently in
prison, and Amjad Hussain Faruqui of the HuJI, a fugitive accused in
the Daniel Pearl case, are both closely linked to the LeO. They and
their terrorist colleagues were associated with the various training
camps in Afghanistan when the Taliban was in power there. Omar Sheikh
was reportedly one of the instructors at one such camp. LeO cadres comprise
of various Taliban members, certain Al
Qaeda terrorists and terrorists from the HuJI, LeJ and JeM. Reports
have indicated that Pakistani cadres of terrorist groups and Islamist
parties allied with Osama bin Laden’s
International Islamic Front (IIF),
who managed to survive the US air strikes in Afghanistan and crossed
over into Pakistan, are also part of the LeO. According to a May 2002-report,
the LeO consists of handpicked cadres of the HuJI, JeM and LeJ and was
formed primarily to carry out ‘punishment acts’ of terrorism against
Americans on Pakistani soil.

The Lashkar-e-Omar is reportedly
headed by Qari Abdul Hai alias Qari Asadullah alias Talha, chief of
the LeJ’s Majlis-i-Shoora (Supreme Council). Qari Asadullah reportedly
formed his faction of the LeJ after parting ways with LeJ founder Riaz
Basra in October 2000. Basra and three of his associates were killed
in an encounter in Mailsi, Multan on May 14, 2002. According to a June-2002
media report, since the LeJ was proscribed, Qari Asadullah decided on
the name Lashkar-e-Omar and also succeeded in incorporating terrorist
cadres from other proscribed groups like the JeM and LeT into the new
group.

The LeO is stated to be
patterned after bin Laden's IIF. Besides, cells of the group comprising
5-15 cadres also exist. Therefore, according to official sources, it
has become difficult to infiltrate such a homogenous group of motivated
cadres.

Most of the key members
of the conglomerate are veterans of the 1980s jihad in Afghanistan against
the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Operational Strategies and Linkages

Official sources have indicated
that what makes Lashkar-e-Omar a serious threat is the fact that most
of its cadres are members of the same class and camp trained by Amjad
Faruqui. Faruqui, a HuJI terrorist, is wanted for his involvement in
the murder of Pearl. LeO also has suicide cadres in its ranks. The LeO
is allegedly involved in the suicide bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel
in Karachi on May 8. In that incident, 14 persons, including 12 French
nationals, were killed. Security agencies suspect that there exist more
LeO fidayeen (suicide) squads and that these would target foreign
nationals, particularly Americans and Britons residing in Pakistan.

The LeO has close linkages
with the Al Qaeda and several terrorist groups active in the Indian
State of Jammu and Kashmir. Karachi based Al-Rashid Trust (ART)
is reportedly funding the Lashkar-e-Omar. The ART is one of the 27 groups
and organisations listed by US State Department on September 22, 2001
for involvement in financing and supporting a network of international
Islamist terrorist groups,

Activities and Incidents

The Lashkar-e-Omar is suspected to be
involved in the terrorist attack on a church in Model Town, Bahawalpur
in Punjab on October 28, 2002, in which a police personnel and 17
Christians, including five children, were killed and nine others injured.

It is reportedly closely linked to the
abduction-cum-murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl and JeM terrorist
Omar Sheikh has been sentenced to life for involvement in this case.

The group, according to official sources,
is allegedly involved in the March 17, 2002 grenade attack on a church
in the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave in Islamabad in which five
persons, including a US diplomat's wife and daughter, were killed
and 41 others injured.

Besides, the LeO was reportedly involved
in the suicide bombing outside the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi on May
8, 2002 and the June 14-attack on the US consulate in Karachi, in
which 10 persons, including five women, were killed and 51 others
injured.